Regional roundup

February 8, 2014

COLUMBUS - Lori Stine of Cadiz, an Ohio State Highway Patrol dispatcher, was named Dispatcher of the Year on Friday as part of the patrol's 2013 Leadership Awards.

Stine is assigned to the New Philadelphia Dispatch Center.

She joined the patrol in March 2001 as a dispatcher assigned to the Steubenville Post. Later that year, she transferred to the St. Clairsville Dispatch Center. In 2011, she transferred to her most recent assignment at the New Philadelphia Dispatch Center.

Stine earned an associate's degree in medical science from Fairmont State College in 2001.

Edison Local School public meeting

HAMMONDSVILLE - The Edison Local School District will hold a public meeting 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the high school auditorium to discuss the transition of the school year from days to hours beginning with the 2014-2015 school year.

Philosopher guest speaker at university

STEUBENVILLE - Legal and political philosophy expert Francis J. Beckwith will speak at Franciscan University of Steubenville at 7:30 p.m. February 20 on "Taking Rites Seriously?: How Courts and Legal Scholars Diminish Religious Belief,"

The talk is set for the Tony and Nina Gentile Gallery in the J. C. Williams Center.

Beckwith will focus on legal scholars who argue that religious worldviews are unreasonable and religiously informed policy proposals have no place in a secular liberal democracy.

Beckwith's talk is part of the spring 2014 Distinguished Speaker Series.

The talk is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and the Henkels Lecture Series.

Man who said he was Santa sentenced

WARREN - A 65-year-old northeast Ohio man with a flowing white beard who often told neighborhood children he was Santa Claus has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for having child pornography on his computer.

A judge in Trumbull County sentenced Niles resident William F. Brock Sr. on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to 35 child porn charges.

Prosecutors say evidence found on Brock's computer included videos showing rapes being committed against an 8-year-old girl in nearby Austintown by his girlfriend in 2012.

The girlfriend was sentenced in September to 25 years in prison for raping two children and having sexually explicit images on a cellphone.